Many of the visitors to this site come seeking an understanding of what
Yeshua (Jesus) meant
when He said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle,
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God" (

MARK 10:25). The
following is what I have found as the answer.

There are at least four possible explanations for what
Yeshua said. One, that
"eye of a needle" was a narrow mountain pass of which it was difficult for a
camel to go through. That explanation is plausible but not very likely there
being no known pass by that name in that part of the world. Another explanation
is given by EW Bullinger in his Companion Bible. He wrote,

"...the eye of the needle, a small door fixed in a
gate and opened after dark. To pass through, the camel must be unloaded. Hence
the difficulty of the rich man. He must be unloaded, and hence the proverb,
common in the East. In Palestine the "camel"; in the Babylonian Talmud it is
the elephant".

Manners and Customs of the Bible by James Freeman gives a similar
explanation. This second suggestion seems reasonable except for a couple of things. First, at the
time of Yeshua's quote, He was on the coast and was near no city gates. We might
expect that when Yeshua made reference to something in His teaching, He pointed to it
as His illustration. When He said one might wither a fig tree or cast a mountain
into the sea (

MATHEW 21:21), He very likely pointed at the fig tree and at mount Olivet and
then at the sea. When He said that Solomon was not arrayed like one of these
lilies, He probably pointed at the flower for the comparison. If He was standing
alongside a city gate as He made this statement about a camel entering through
the eye of a needle, Bullinger's suggestion might seem more likely, but not as
much so if He
was walking along the sea coast.

In addition to this, the New Bible Dictionary says concerning
the existence of these gates, that "there is no historical evidence to support this".
The context of His teaching does not place Him around camels or city gates, and
with "no historical evidence to support" the idea that He was indeed referring
to a camel going through a city gate, it seems to me quite a stretch to assume Bullinger is right.

A third suggestion of the meaning of a camel going through the eye of a
needle is given by
Abraham Mitrie Rihbany
in his book The Syrian Christ. On
pages 131-132 quoted below, he comments on the idea of the eye of the needle being a city
gate.

The saying [about a camel going through the eye of a needle] is current in the East, and in all probability it was a common
saying there long before the advent of Christ. But I never knew that small door
in a city or a castle gate to be called the needle's eye; nor indeed the large
gate to be called the needle. The name of that door, in the common speech of the
country, is the "plum," and I am certain the Scriptural passage makes no
reference to it whatever.

The Koran makes use of this expression in one of its purest classical Arabic
passages. The term employed here- sum-el-khiat- can mean only the sewing
instrument, and nothing else.

So, it would appear that although the gates may have existed, they were not
called "needle's eyes". Mr. Rihbany suggests that Yeshua was simply speaking
figuratively, as when He said "Ye blind guides, which strain at [out] a gnat and
swallow a camel" (MATTHEW 23:24). Perhaps this is so, and without the final
explanation given below, it sounds most plausible.

Most Christians
realize that the Gospels weren't originally written in English. Some think they
were written in Latin, most believe they were first written in Greek. Very
possibly though, some if not all were written in the language of Yeshua and His
followers, Aramaic. This language was all but forgotten until about a
hundred years ago, which is why few students are familiar with it. Dr. George Lamsa, who has written extensively about the language and in his book entitled
Gospel Light clarifies for us the probable meaning of Yeshua's words concerning
the eye of a needle. I will quote from page 167.

"The Aramaic word gamla means camel, a large rope and a beam. The
meaning of the word is determined by its context. If the word riding or burden
occurs then gamla means a camel, but when the eye of a needle is
mentioned gamla more correctly means a rope. There is no connection
anywhere in Aramaic speech or literature between camel and needle, but there
is a definite connection between rope and needle."

Nearly all of the English versions of the Gospels came from Greek texts by translators who
may have known little about Aramaic. Thus camel would have been translated
instead of rope. It takes little effort to imagine Yeshua, while walking along
the sea coast,
pointing to a rope and saying, "It is easier for a rope to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the
kingdom of God". Consider also the interesting comment of the Aramaic scholar
Andrew Gabriel Roth, where he explains that the rope analogy simply
meant that it had to be unwound to pass through the eye of a needle.

One final note of information should be passed along to the
reader. In his book Judaism in the First Three Centuries of the Christian Era,
George Foot Moore shares the following from ancient Jewish beliefs concerning
the eye of a needle.

God encourages and assists every movement of man's heart
towards him. The words of the lover in the Song of Songs (5,2), 'Open to me, my
sister,' are thus applied: God says, "Open to me an entrance no larger than the
eye of a needle, and I will open to you an entrance through which tents and
great timbers can pass."

Now let us venture beyond which was actually spoken by the
Lord. Let us consider, in the context, what our Lord was meaning by His
illustration. His context has to do with entering the kingdom of GOD. In the
previous chapter He had warned that "if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it
is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having
two eyes to be cast into hell fire". Then a few verses before the one we are
studying, He said, "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the
kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein".

As we continue reading this record in Mark's gospel we come to our verse in
question. A wealthy man had come to Yeshua seeking what he must do to "inherit
eternal life". After hearing Yeshua's response, Mark wrote that the man "was sad
at that saying, and went away grieved". He was sad and he was grieved because
Yeshua's response was not the answer he had hoped for. He didn't realize that
greater wealth then he had ever dreamed of could be his if he accepted Yeshua's
answer. This man was as the seed sown amongst thorns. He was acquainted with
accumulating "great possessions" but he was not acquainted with laying up
"treasure in heaven". He may have known "the commandments" but he didn't know
the word and will of GOD.

It is interesting that before Yeshua gave him his answer, the Scripture says
that Yeshua "loved him". That is always why the word is sown. That is why the
word is sent. But too often it is rejected. Yeshua wasn't desiring to deprive
this rich man of his wealth. Yeshua was showing him the way into the kingdom of
GOD. Yeshua was offering him treasures vastly superior to any that moth and rust
could corrupt. Thus, three times, as if trying to drive the point home to His
disciples, Yeshua said, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the
kingdom of God...how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the
kingdom of God...It is easier for a camel [rope] to go through the eye of a
needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God". For Yeshua to
declare this warning three times, speaks loudly to those who have ears to hear.
The desire for riches was not to be underestimated in its ability to deceive and
divert one from the narrow way that would lead unto the kingdom of GOD.

Many people living in the Bible lands at the time when the Gospels were
written, erroneously believed that all wealth was a blessing from GOD. If one
was poor, then the people believed that he must surely be cursed by GOD, but if
one was rich he must surely be blessed by GOD. This is why the disciples then "were
astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?"
(

MARK 10:26). They thought that if the rich found it difficult to enter the
kingdom of GOD, what chance did the rest of them have? Much of Yeshua's teaching
endeavored to correct the false assumption that wealth is always a blessing from
GOD. The truth is more the other way (JEREMIAH 9:23-24). Too
often the pursuit of wealth insulated
them
from the workings of GOD in their lives (ISAIAH 41:17-20). It would choke the word sown in their hearts
and rob them of eternal treasures their heavenly Father desired for them to obtain.
Hence, it was difficult (not impossible) for a rich man to enter the kingdom of
GOD.

MARK 8:35, 36
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it;
but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall
save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul?